Recommendations needed for Compact Flash cards for 5D Mk III

[lastcoyote]

Just about to pull the trigger on a 5D Mk III to replace my 40D as main body.
I currently have a couple of Sandisk Extreme 60mb/s 8gb cards.
I was thinking of getting a 32GB for the 5D Mk III. And hope to use it for both stills and video capture.
So do I just get a Sandisk Extreme 60mb/s 32gb card or would i be better advised to pay extra now for a Extreme Pro 90mb/s ? Is the extra cost really worth it? Will I be dissapointed with the performance of the 60mb/s cards? Or how about going all out and getting a Lexar Professional 1000x card? Are these as reliable as Sandisk?

So many questions 

[Seanlucky]

I personally have always chosen Sandisk over Lexar, but that's probably more superstition than anything. If you do decide to choose Sandisk, I use the same cards you have in the 8GB version and have never had a problem with them for video or stills in my 40D, 1DS Mark III, 5D Mark II, or 5D Mark III. I suppose if you require really long bursts, then it makes sense to get the fastest cards on the market, but such a choice didn't make sense for me as I don't really shoot sports.

[dshipley]

Just about to pull the trigger on a 5D Mk III to replace my 40D as main body.
I currently have a couple of Sandisk Extreme 60mb/s 8gb cards.
I was thinking of getting a 32GB for the 5D Mk III. And hope to use it for both stills and video capture.
So do I just get a Sandisk Extreme 60mb/s 32gb card or would i be better advised to pay extra now for a Extreme Pro 90mb/s ? Is the extra cost really worth it? Will I be dissapointed with the performance of the 60mb/s cards? Or how about going all out and getting a Lexar Professional 1000x card? Are these as reliable as Sandisk?

So many questions 

You can't go wrong with either SanDisk or Lexar for CF cards (I own several of both brands). Having said that if you can afford to I'd highly recommend investing in the fastest cards you can (preferably the Lexar 1000x... and it looks like B&H has a pair of Lexar 1000x 16GB cards on sale currently for under $150) as you'll appreciate their ability to quickly clear the camera's buffer.

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I use the 60mb/sec cards with no problems.  The fast cards might make a difference if you are trying to shoot high fps sequences and need a extra frame or two before the buffer fills.  You can also cut the transfer time to your computer if you have a good USB-3 reader.
Get what you need, 60 mb/sec works fine.
One thing to consider, is that if you use dual cards and write to both, your speed will be limited by the slowest card, so even 60mb/sec will be overkill if a class 10 SDXC card is installed.

[balaji]

I am using Kingston 600x 32GB, no issues so far  and with Transcend USB 3.0 Super Speed Multi-Card Reader for SD/SDHC/SDXC/MS/CF Cards (TS-RDF8) Supports UDMA7.

[lastcoyote]

You can't go wrong with either SanDisk or Lexar for CF cards (I own several of both brands). Having said that if you can afford to I'd highly recommend investing in the fastest cards you can (preferably the Lexar 1000x... and it looks like B&H has a pair of Lexar 1000x 16GB cards on sale currently for under $150) as you'll appreciate their ability to quickly clear the camera's buffer.

yeah that's what i was thinking regarding the buffer.
presumably a fast card is required for video, is that right?
i'm in england so the B&H sale won't help me unfortunately.
shooting in raw how many shots 'roughly speaking' would i fit on a 16GB. Maybe 2x16GB is preferable to a 32GB?

[gary]

I use the SanDisk Extreme Pro 16gb @ 90MB/S I have never had a problem with the buffer on the 5d mkiii. I can say I have used the 60gb and they are fine but at 90 you do notice a difference. If you can afford it spend the extra.

[Chuck Alaimo]

You can't go wrong with either SanDisk or Lexar for CF cards (I own several of both brands). Having said that if you can afford to I'd highly recommend investing in the fastest cards you can (preferably the Lexar 1000x... and it looks like B&H has a pair of Lexar 1000x 16GB cards on sale currently for under $150) as you'll appreciate their ability to quickly clear the camera's buffer.

yeah that's what i was thinking regarding the buffer.
presumably a fast card is required for video, is that right?
i'm in england so the B&H sale won't help me unfortunately.
shooting in raw how many shots 'roughly speaking' would i fit on a 16GB. Maybe 2x16GB is preferable to a 32GB?

depends on what your shooting!  For weddings I generally go with mRAW ---a 16 GB card can do about 800 or so at mRAW...closer to 500 if you go full sizred RAW, and closer to 1000 if you go sRAW (depends on what your shooting too, more texture, colors, detail in the shot leads to larger file size).

I tend to prefer Sandisk, with lexar being my second choice.  I have borrowed kingston cards at times and gotten errors (had to reformat the cards, they worked after that but having to reformat doesn't give me confidence!!!)

[cliffwang]

Both Sandisk and Lexar are good. You probably won't different between 60MB and 90MB for shooting.  However, you will see the difference in the future when you use Magic Lantern for uncompressed video.  I will choice 32GB/60MB for now to save some money.  When Magic Lantern fully support 5D3, I will buy the fastest 32GB/90MB from Sandisk or Lexar for video.

[snowweasel]

Personally, I would rather get a larger card at a slightly slower speed (I'm currently using 32GB cards). I prefer fewer cards to keep up with, change out, and download after a shoot. There are those who prefer smaller cards, though, as theyre typically a bit less expensive, and for the whole "all your eggs in one basket" mentality that you lose more in the rare, but possible, event of a card failure or loss.

For non-critical shoots, I have no problem using Kingston cards (I have several elite pro 32GB 133x). I've never had any issues, but have heard enough complaints over the years that I only view them as a last choice if I'm shooting a wedding, or something (if you think you may need an extra card & can't afford another sandisk or lexar). If you have tons of cash laying around- by all means, though, go for the fastest card out there- especially if you have a reader that can make use of it. Offloading to your computer is where you're most likely to see the biggest difference. In shooting, I practically never notice any difference between my sandisk extreme (400x, 60 MB/s) & extreme pro (600x, 90 MB/s). Really the only time I notice any major slowdown is if you are shooting to BOTH cf & sd at the same time. You'll never get over 133x, no matter how fast a sd card you put in (more at http://jeffcable.blogspot.com/2012/06/why-you-should-not-put-sd-card-in-your.html). As for video, either the extreme or pro (or similar Lexar cards) are plenty fast.

[rpt]

For Multi shot or video go for 90 MB/s cards. For single shot even the 8mb 200x card I got with the 5D3 works...
I bought 16, 32 and 64 MB cards. San disk, Lexar and Kingston. The 16 and 32 were 90 MB/s and the 64 was 60 MB/s.

[Studio1930]

Started having Sandisk failures so I switched to Lexar 1000 16GB cards.  No problems so far and they are FAAAAASSSTTT.    Using them in a 1DX and 1D4.

[crasher8]

I used to use anything over 266x for my 7D but my 5D3 freebie pkg arrived today and I just tested the SanDisk Ext Pro UDMA-7 CF card and WOW is it fast! I have never seen RAW shots populate that fast before. Impressive.

[lastcoyote]

thanks for all the replies so far.
hmm..seems there are some that feel there's little between the extreme and extreme pro cards and others that feel the difference is quite noticeable.
seeing as how i'm not likely 'yet' to be a big burst shooter..and unfortunately money is a factor..maybe a sandisk extreme 32gb or a couple of 16gb will be fine for now.

[rocketdesigner]

The 5D3 contains a fast CF slot and a slow SD slot which doesn't support (UHS) ultra high speed. If you have a cards in each slot, the camera defaults to the slower SD card. The Lexar 1000x Pro CF card will clear your buffer @ 90mb per sec or higher.

Costly media no doubt, but well worth the investment in order to fully utilize the abilities of the camera you paid for.